A Thin Place

A thin place is often described as a place where the veil of the earthly world and spiritual world is thin and instead of being seen and felt it transcends all the senses of the person with whom it comes in contact. They are places where some people have said to have experienced a divine presence, while others have come away from these experiences frightened and troubled.

Crooked Creek ,Caledonia Mountain, NB

I came up with the idea of this song while driving to Caledonia Mountain with my best friend Shannon to his cabin. He told me about a man he knew who described a certain place on the mountain as a "thin place". Naturally, I was intrigued since I had never heard of this before.

It gave me the idea to write a song about a man who experiences contact with the spiritual realm in what he perceives to be a hallowed area in a clearing on a mountain. Of course, considering the nature of the songs I was writing for this record, there was bound to be a tragic or sinister element to the song.

What I find fascinating is how songs come to you. The subject of thin places came up naturally in conversation and ignited the idea for a song. Was the idea so compelling that I had to write about it? Was it simply the fact that I was looking for ideas that fit in with the dark theme I was already pursuing? Regardless, this is the song that came of that conversation on a Winter afternoon driving to a cabin on Caledonia Mountain.

A Thin Place

There's a thin place he goes from time to time,

To be with those who’ve passed on,

That still place between dusk and darkness,

To Caledonia to speak to those who've gone

The first time they spoke was on that lonely mountain,

It shook him down to the bone,

Those consoling voices have grown strange,

Now he shivers with the memories all alone

Chorus:

The thin place he goes between the dark and the dawn,

Where once sacred words became this profane verse

The secrets of the dead are his alone to bear,

An angel's loving grace or a devil's wretched curse

They swirl and descend upon him

Silken and lithe in their flight

Sounds that once soothed became wicked

Spur him to a dizzying height

Higher and higher he ascends

To the tops of the towering pines

Voices draw him over the mountainside

To a death both infernal and sublime

Tomorrow it begins.

Tomorrow. Yes, it's finally here. I head to the country just outside of Oxford, Nova Scotia to begin work on my new album.

Brian Murray

Multi-instrumentalist, Brian Murray will have the most work to do since we only have him for three days. In addition to being an incredibly talented and tasteful drummer, he is also an amazing acoustic guitar picker and banjo player.

Brian will have his hands full this weekend and I'm anxious to hear the inspired musical contributions he is sure to provide.

Dale and Christina are two of my dearest friends and the finest hosts one could hope for. It's nice to have an atmosphere like this in which to create and I'm very thankful for the opportunity. This will be a weekend of collaboration, good friends, good food and good drinks.

I'm looking forward to keeping everyone updated with video blogs of the recording process. Thanks again to all of you for your support.

Dale and Christina on stage in Germany.

Evolution of an album

Writing a new record is like going on a trip someplace you've never been, with no map and no idea how long it will take to get there. As I said in a previous post, albums take on a life of their own and change direction the more you write. This continues to be true of this one. I wrote a new song on Friday night and while it's in keeping with the dark tone of this record, it's kind of a mountain ballad which will probably consist simply of vocals, guitar and banjo. That being said, there is also a murder ballad on this record that seems to be heading towards a more Eleanor Rigby-like sound with strings and piano.

It's going to be a widely varied mixture of sounds, styles and influences I've gathered in my 30 odd years of making music and in 45 days we'll see where that takes us. I'm really looking forward to the journey ahead.

The search for sullen sounds

Don't let the title of the blog post fool you. I'm not that much of a drag to be around. That being said, this album I'm about to record is full of dark imagery and requires a certain atmosphere to bring these stories to life. I've been listening to a wide variety of music ranging from Nick Cave's 1996 album Murder Ballads, to underappreciated folk singer Vashti Bunyan to the soundtrack to the recent horror film The Witch. When I saw The Witch I was struck by the visceral, truly bone-chilling effects that composer Mark Korven was able to summon with instruments such as the Swedish nyckelharpa, which is a bowed instrument much like a violin, but also employs the use of keys which gives it a distinctive, percussive sound.


He also used a waterphone which is a is a type of 'inharmonic acoustic percussion instrument consisting of a stainless steel resonator bowl or pan with a cylindrical neck and bronze rods of different lengths and diameters around the rim of the bowl. The resonator may contain a small amount of water giving the waterphone a vibrant ethereal sound that has appeared in movie soundtracks, record albums, and live performances.'

I also really like the sombre tone of a harmonium, which is essentially a portable pump organ.


Below are images and links to sounds of all the aforementioned instruments. I doubt I'll be able to gain access to some of these for my record, but the sounds certainly inspired the direction for some of the songs on this album. Hope you enjoy them.

Swedish Nyckelharpa

Waterphone - starts getting creepy at the 1:02 mark.

Harmonium - starts at the 0:54 sec mark.

Shannon Smith - Photographer for Folklore

For this album, I've enlisted the photographic talents of one of my oldest and dearest friends, Shannon Smith. Working with a photographer is a daunting task in that you're trying not to be too self-conscious; this is especially true when you're working with a photographer you don't know. You want to capture an image that aligns with the music you're putting forth. However, working with someone you know is a true advantage; they know you, they can be truly honest with you and help you to be honest with the camera.

Here are a couple of images from what is sure to be the first of several photo shoots for this record.

For more examples of Shannon's stellar photography, check out his online portfolio here.

© 2016 Shannon Smith

© 2016 Shannon Smith

August 26 - Folklore begins

This is the date the wheels are set in motion. This album I've been writing for the last 2+ years will finally start on its path with my dear friend Dale Murray, producer and multi-instrumentalist, at the helm. Finally.

The initial plan for this record was to record an album of murder ballads, but as the writing progressed, I realised the album encompassed more themes than simply the traditional murder ballad. The material veers from lost love to a shipwreck to murder to demons, both real and imagined.

It's going to be one of the most collaborative albums I've ever done. My songwriting partner, Helena Berlin, and I wrote many songs together, several of which will appear on this record. My wife Christina wrote some incredibly powerful music for two brand new songs. Lastly, Dale Murray will help me create the sonic landscapes necessary to bring these dark and haunted stories to life.